PASSIVE VOICE

What is the passive voice ?

A sentence generally begins with the performer of the action (subject), then the verb, then the object or person that the action is performed on. This is called an ‘Active’ sentence.

For an example :

                   Subject       +Verb          +Object

                   Jonathan    cleaned       the room

If we begin the sentence with the object or person that the action is performed on, we formulate a ‘ Passive’ sentence

For an example :

         

                   Object         + Verb             + by Subject

                   The room    was cleaned      by Jonathan

Note :

Not all verb in English take an object. Therefore, some sentences are complete without an object.

For examples :

                   John slept well                     

                   John lives far away 

       this type of sentence can not be changed into the passive voice

When should we use the passive voice ?

There are two main cases :

1.   We don’t know who the subject is, or it is not important who the subject is.

      For an example :

      Somebody cleaned the floor             : The floor was cleaned        

2.   When it is obvious to the listener or reader who the subject is because it is the person who usually does it.

      For an example :

      The cleaner cleaned the floor            : The floor was cleaned

How to formulate the Passive Voice ?

There are three steps to formulate a passive sentence :

1.   Put the object of the verb at the beginning of your sentence

2.   Conjugate the verb ‘to be’ in the same tense as the active sentence

3.   Put the main verb in the Past Participle form

      For examples :

 

The postman delivers the mail          : The mail is delivered

The decorator is painting my room   : My room is being painted      

Someone stole my wallet                  : My wallet was stolen

Note 1 :

If you want to mention the subject in a passive sentence, use ‘ by ’ :

For example :

          My room is being painted by the decorator

Note 2 :

If the active sentence begins with ‘no one’ or ‘nobody’ the passive sentence will be negative :

For example :

          Noone turned on the light : The light was not turned on

Note 3 :

If there is a preposition between the verb and the object, the preposition will remain after the verb :

For example :

          They talked about the issue : The issue was talked about

The Passive Voice of different Tenses

Tense                             Active                            Passive

Simple Present               I do it                              It is done by me

Simple Past                    He did it                          It was done by him

Simple Future                I will do it                        It will be done by me

Present Continuous        I am doing it                    It is being done by me

Past Continuous            She was doing it               It was being done by her

Future Continuous         I will be doing it                It will be being done by me

Present Perfect               We have done it                It has been done by us

Past Perfect                   They had done it               It had been done by them

Future Perfect                I will have done it             It will have been done by me